The Role of Recovery for Daily Cognitive Appraisal of Work Demands: A Diary Study

Abstract

This study examined the role of daily recovery for cognitive appraisal of work demands in a daily diary study. We examined if psychological detachment from work during the evening was associated with changes in cognitive appraisal from afternoon to the next morning. Additionally, we examined whether these associations are mediated by state of being recovered in the morning. We collected data from 183 employees with 3 daily measurement occasions over 2 consecutive workweeks. We analyzed the data using multilevel path modeling with latent variance decomposition into within- and between- person variance parts. Results showed that psychological detachment predicted a decrease in hindrance and threat appraisal but no change in challenge appraisal from afternoon to morning. State of being recovered mediated the relationship between psychological detachment and threat appraisal but not hindrance appraisal. Psychological detachment was indirectly related to an increase in challenge appraisal via state of being recovered in the morning. Our results provide insights on predictors of cognitive appraisal and the role of recovery for the cognitive processes taking place in the stress process.